Targeted therapy

What is targeted therapy?

This is the name for a group of drugs that block the growth and spread of cancer by interfering with the biology of the cancer cells. They target specific processes in the cells that cause cancer to grow. For example, some stop a group of proteins, called growth factors, which would otherwise latch on to a cancer cell and help it grow faster and live longer.

By working on the precise ways cancer cells develop, targeted therapies may be more effective and less harmful to normal cells than other cancer treatments. The most well known targeted therapy at the moment is trastuzumab (Herceptin). However, the benefits of others are being looked at in clinical trials so it is likely that more targeted therapies will be more widely available for primary, secondary and locally advanced breast cancer in the future.